Rose's Downy Yellow Butter Cake

Baking is a science. It's about ratios and chemical reactions and, over the years, I have learned where variations can be made and how best to modify a recipe to achieve my ideal. But I've also learned that sometimes a recipe is just too good to modify. There is a lot to be said for exercising restraint and knowing when a recipe wouldn't be improved with your fingerprints all over it. Rose Levy Beranbaum's Downy Butter Yellow Cake and White Velvet Cake are two such recipes. They are the foundations for the two most iconic works of art in this book, and I am happy to admit that I couldn't have invented a better recipe to use in these desserts.

Wayne Thiebaud's painted cakes are classic, nostalgic, and all-American. They're not challenging in flavor—they're just simple cakes, like the type your mother might've made for your birthday. Rose's Downy Yellow Butter cake is the perfect recipe with which to create cakes commemorating Wayne Thiebaud.

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour the sides of an 8 by 3-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with a parchment paper round that has been cut to fit.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 1/2 cup (4.3 oz / 121 g) of the milk, and the vanilla.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the remaining 1/4 cup (2.1 oz / 60 g) of milk and mix on low speed until moistened, about 15 seconds. Add the butter and beat on medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth and aerated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg mixture in 3 batches, mixing on medium speed for 20 seconds and then scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the surface with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating the pan midway through baking, until the cake springs back when gently pressed in the center, 55 to 60 minutes. You can also test for doneness by listening to the cake: Remove the pan from the oven, set it on a wire rack, lower your ear to the cake, and listen. If you hear the cake snap, crackle, and pop, it needs a few more minutes in the oven. If it's quiet, it's done.

Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes, and then run an offset spatula around the inside of the pan. Invert the cake onto the wire rack, lift off the pan, and remove the parchment. When the cake is cool enough to handle, after about 20 minutes, reinvert it so the top is facing up. Let cool completely, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before assembling.

Note: This cake uses egg yolks only, which is convenient because my favorite frostings are made with egg whites. Save whites that are untainted by bits of yolk in a clean airtight container to use in a frosting; they will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.

Do Ahead: Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, the cake will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or up to 2 months in the freezer.

Variations: If you're going above and beyond with the Thiebaud Pink Cake
, butter and flour the sides of two 6 by 3-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper rounds that have been cut to fit. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Decrease the baking time to 45 to 50 minutes.

A self-taught baker and longtime owner of the San Francisco cake and sweets shop, Miette, Caitlin Freeman was inspired to bake by the confectionary painter Wayne Thiebaud. After selling Miette in 2008, she started the pastry program at Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and coauthored The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee. Her artistic creations for the Blue Bottle Café at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art have been featured in the New York Times, Design Sponge, Elle Decor, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and more. She lives in San Francisco, California.